


Ever Enough

by angularspeed



Series: Seongjoong Week 2020 [2]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Record Store Employee Hongjoong, Record Stores, Seongjoong Week 2020, Thats a Tag?, do i still know how to tag? no, strawberryjoong bc yes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24346168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angularspeed/pseuds/angularspeed
Summary: Seonghwa, who’s new to town, accompanies Wooyoung to the local record shop and falls in love with the red-haired employee, whose fleeting smiles and soft voice makes him feel at home.Is he falling too fast? Maybe. But all Seonghwa wants is just to talk to him one more time.
Relationships: Jung Wooyoung & Park Seonghwa, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Series: Seongjoong Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746814
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56
Collections: Seongjoong Week 2020





	Ever Enough

**Author's Note:**

> the record shop setting was inspired by a trip i made to boston earlier this year! i went to a small comic store that was super cozy and bought some manga from there :)) so i imagined this record shop to have the same vibe !!
> 
> if you haven’t listened to “ever enough” by a rocket to the moon before, i definitely recommend giving it a listen! i’m not sure if it actually has a vinyl record version tho 
> 
> thank you, as always, to the amazing [yudofu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yudofu/pseuds/yudofu) for betaing this!!

Seonghwa, who had grown up in the suburbs all his life, was excited at the prospect of moving to Seoul, the bustling center of South Korea. Unfortunately, that meant leaving behind his immediate family, but that meant he could eat his aunt’s cooking every night (which he liked more than he could admit to his mom’s face). 

He wasn’t sure what he expected. But what he knew he didn’t expect was being dragged all over town on his second day there. 

“Hyung! Can you come with me to look for music records that I need for my musicology class?” Wooyoung, his childhood best friend who moved to Seoul before him, had asked him, proceeding to make the biggest puppy eyes at him after that. Seonghwa, who had always been a little too weak, complied rather quickly. 

When he had asked Wooyoung what his plan for finding records was, the latter had replied, “Well, I’ll just walk around town, looking for record shops! There’s always bound to be some, right?” 

Seonghwa didn’t make much argument after that. After all, he had thought, Wooyoung knew the city much better than he did. Hours later, he realized that trusting Wooyoung was a bad decision. 

“Where the heck are the record shops? I swear I saw some around here,” Wooyoung huffed as he slowly trudged, dragging the soles of his shoes on the ground. 

“You know, now I’m starting to doubt whether or not you actually know the city better than I do,” Seonghwa remarked. Wooyoung turned around to stick his tongue out at Seonghwa briefly. “That’s mean, hyung!” 

“I mean it, though.” Seonghwa’s feet were dying. He swore that when he got home ( _if_ he got home) he probably would see countless blisters on his feet. 

“Oh my God, wait! There’s a record shop!” Jolted out of his train of thought about the pain in his feet, Seonghwa was startled as Wooyoung started running to the building ahead of them. He quickly followed suit. 

After stopping in front of the building, Seonghwa frowned. Where was the door of the building? And where did the building even say “record shop” or anything of the sort? 

“Look!” Wooyoung pointed at what seemed like the bottom of the building, where a small, narrow staircase revealed itself, with a dangling, rusty-looking sign labeled “RECORD STORE.” “Finally a record shop!” 

Seonghwa followed Wooyoung down the stairs, worries budding in his mind. What kind of shop had its entrance hidden? How long had it been since the sign on the shop was up? Was he going to get kidnapped? 

But these thoughts quickly dissipated as he entered the store. His surroundings were dimly lit with a fuzzy orange hue illuminating the room, adorned with a ceiling fan. He could hear music playing somewhere in the shop — a sound that endeavored to lull him to sleep. Despite the shelves and tables full of records and other knickknacks, the shop felt cozy, radiating rays of warmth. 

And then he caught a glimpse of the record shop worker. Seonghwa stopped entirely in his tracks. The employee had bright red hair that fell smoothly around his face, framing it. His plump, pink lips were slightly upturned in a small smile and he almost seemed like an angel. But suddenly, the employee looked up hastily, meeting Seonghwa’s eyes for a moment. For some reason, the smile on the employee’s face grew. Seonghwa quickly averted his eyes, his face burning. 

Wooyoung must have noticed something going on because he had a slight smirk on his face as he leaned in to whisper in Seonghwa’s ear. 

“Have fun staring at the cute employee!” His voice playful, he grinned once more at Seonghwa before disappearing behind a tall shelf of records. 

For a second, Seonghwa stood there, frozen in shock, before the reality of what happened settled in. He quickly shuffled out of his previous position, hiding behind a record shelf, his heart racing quickly for absolutely no reason. Why did it feel like his heart was about to ricochet out of his chest? He chided himself for overreacting to a simple smile, and when he felt slightly calmer, he peeked around. 

The records, labeled alphabetically, were neatly stacked on the shelves. Moving throughout the store, Seonghwa was proud of himself for recognizing a few of his favorite old songs. 

As he moved farther into the store, he could hear the music playing clearer and clearer. He could almost make out the words of the song. 

_I will always be yours, forever and more, for the push and pull_ , the voice crooned in the background. Seonghwa leafed through a few scattered records on a small table near the shelves to see if there were any familiar songs. 

_I still drown in your love and drink ‘til I’m drunk_. Seonghwa finally came across the record player, sitting in the center of another table in the midst of a clearing. 

_And all that I’ve done, is it ever enough?_

Seonghwa remained near the record player, attentively listening to the song, mesmerized by the cascading notes and vocals. When the song came to an end with a breathless “Is it ever enough?”, he was almost sad to not know what the song’s name was. If he did know, he thought, he would probably buy the record for it (despite the fact that there probably wasn’t a record player at his aunt’s house). 

“Did you like the song?” 

Seonghwa, staring blankly at the record player, was startled out of his thoughts. The source of the voice was the red-haired employee, who was now standing in front of him, donning a carefree smile on his face. Now that he was in front of Seonghwa, he noticed that the employee was actually shorter than him. 

“Ah, yeah…” Seonghwa replied, then internally cursed himself for taking so long to answer. 

“The song’s called ‘Ever Enough’ by A Rocket to the Moon, by the way,” the employee added before disappearing promptly behind another shelf of records. 

Even though he couldn’t see him, Seonghwa still nodded. He pulled out his phone to search up the song. The name of the album that contained the song was “Wild & Free,” which was released in 2012. 

He walked in the opposite direction towards the exit of the store. “Wild & Free, Wild & Free,” he muttered to no one in particular as he flipped through records on the shelves. 

When he did find it, he pulled the record out and marveled at the cover. The black silhouettes of four men, with the first one carrying what seemed like a torch, adorned the cover, with the imprint of “Wild & Free” in fancy font at the bottom. After internally debating with himself for a minute, he decided against the whiny voice in his head that he would buy it. 

When he arrived at the checkout counter, Wooyoung was already there, exchanging a record with the employee to check out. As Wooyoung turned around to walk out of line, he caught sight of Seonghwa behind him and grinned at him. “I didn’t think you’d actually buy something,” he mouthed. “I guess cute boys can work magic—”

“Sh,” Seonghwa placed his index finger near his mouth in a shushing gesture. “Don’t you dare say anything.” He gave a faux glare, but Wooyoung only laughed. 

“Whatever you say, hyung,” he replied before walking away. With Wooyoung gone, Seonghwa placed the record gently on the counter. 

“Ah, that’s going to be… $14.99.” 

The red-haired employee watched with a small smile on his face as Seonghwa fumbled through his wallet for the money. After placing the amount on the counter, Seonghwa bit his lip before blurting a small “Thank you.” 

“No problem! I see you really liked ‘Ever Enough,’ huh?” 

“Yeah,” Seonghwa nodded. His lips upturned slightly. “Hopefully I’ll find a record player to play the song.” 

“You can always come back here if you can’t find one,” the employee replied. A pink blush rose high on his cheeks a few seconds after he said that. “I mean, I don’t mind if you play your records on the record player at this store,” he rambled on, eyes pinned on the counter. 

Seonghwa’s smile grew. “I’ll take you up on that offer then,” he said. He was about to turn to leave the counter, but he stopped in his tracks. After a pause, he tentatively asked, “If you don’t mind, could you tell me your name?” 

“My name? Ah, it’s Hongjoong!” The flush on his cheeks grew even more prominent. Seonghwa chuckled slightly. It was endearing, seeing the other scramble for words. 

“Hongjoong,” he savored the name, before grinning to himself. He liked the feel of his name on his tongue. 

“If you don’t mind as well… What’s your name?” 

“Seonghwa.” In the corner of his eye, he noticed Wooyoung mouthing something at him, probably along the lines of “hurry up.” He quickly waved at the redhead, before running to Wooyoung. “I’ll see you later then, Hongjoong!” 

Once they were out of the store, walking up the stairs and onto the streets, Wooyoung grabbed Seonghwa’s arm to hiss into his ears. “What was that?” 

“Ow, please don’t say stuff so loudly in my ear,” Seonghwa winced. “What do you mean, what was that?” 

Wooyoung detached from him on the streets. “You were literally eye-fucking him.” 

Seonghwa choked on air. He turned to Wooyoung abruptly, face in flames. “I was not!” 

“Sure, whatever you say, Karen. I could literally feel the gay vibes radiating off of both you. Gay vibes!” Wooyoung almost yelled in his ear. “You’re probably going to return to the record shop just to see him!” 

Seonghwa’s face was beet red by now. “And so what if I do?” 

A mischievous glint illuminated Wooyoung’s eyes. “Whipped.” 

Seonghwa sighed. “I’m not going to argue with that.” 

They bickered all the way until they both arrived at their houses. 

✧✧✧

Wooyoung didn’t lie in his prediction. Seonghwa returned to the record store the next day, the day after that, and the day after that. He did take a break from visiting when his aunt needed him to help with household chores, but aside from that, he was almost visiting the record shop every day. 

Every time he visited, he would find himself playing “Ever Enough” on the record player. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to play any other records. He did buy albums every time he visited, though. Despite having to pull money out of his wallet every time he visited, it was worth being able to see Hongjoong’s face light up with the brightest smile. 

“I get it. You love him very, very much, but I’m sure you’re burning a hole through your wallet by now,” Wooyoung had complained to him, rolling his eyes playfully. “Just ask him out already.” 

“I can’t do that! He doesn’t like me, at least romantically,” Seonghwa had replied, eyebrows slightly furrowed in disbelief. 

“If he really didn’t like you more than a friend, he probably wouldn’t enjoy your presence as much and would’ve kicked you out by now. After all, what kind of creep goes to the place that his crush works at every day?” 

Seonghwa sputtered out a broken reply. “Is it that creepy, wanting to go see him more?”

“I can’t stand you,” Wooyoung sighed. “You’re going to kill me with your obliviousness. Just ask him out and you’ll save me hours of listening to you go on and on about how shiny his eyes are, or how cute and ‘smol’ he looks, or how you want him to step on y—” 

“Wooyoung!” Seonghwa slapped his shoulder lightly. “Don’t say it so loudly!”

“If I don’t say it so loudly, it won’t get past your dense block of a mind to the sane brain cells!” 

Thanks to Wooyoung’s bickering, Seonghwa (in some part of his mind at least) had sort of convinced himself that maybe, _maybe_ , there was a sliver of a chance that Hongjoong perhaps liked him back. Romantically. 

So there he was, catching his breath and taking a moment to once over himself as he stood before the door to the record shop. After thinking _fuck it_ to the worries that swarmed in his mind, he grabbed the door handle and pushed open the doorway to enter the shop. 

He must’ve entered rather aggressively, because once his foot set inside the store Hongjoong’s head snapped up from looking at whatever he was doing. A smile grew instantly on his face. “Hello!” 

“Hi,” Seonghwa walked up to the counter where Hongjoong was currently at. After taking a (hopefully not too noticeable) deep breath, he looked up to meet Hongjoong’s eyes. “Can I talk to you?”

“You already are,” Hongjoong joked, “but sure, go on.” 

“I, actually… like you. As in, more than a friend,” Seonghwa watched as Hongjoong’s cheeks colored slightly. He quickly looked at the ground, his own starting to flame up. 

“It’s totally fine if you don’t reciprocate my feelings! I’m glad you’re even my friend in the first place,” he rambled on, “so if you don’t feel the same, it’s alright! I—” 

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong whispered.

The mentioned boy didn’t hear him. He kept on rambling. “—It’s totally fine with me! I’ll—” 

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong said more firmly. Seonghwa snapped his head up abruptly at the calling of his voice. “Yes?” he timidly asked. 

“I like you too. Like, more than a friend as well,” the redhead rushed to respond. “So I’d like it very much if I could go out with you…” He trailed off, his voice fading. He quickly brought up his hands to cover his face, almost as if his words had sunk in just then. 

Seonghwa stood there in silence, shellshocked for a second before a smile crept its way onto his face and sat there. “When are you free then?” he asked casually as if he was holding a conversation about the weather and not his future love life in hand. 

Hongjoong slowly lowered his hands to answer. “Tomorrow… morning, I think!” 

Seonghwa’s smile grew even deeper. He couldn’t help but find Hongjoong endearing. “I’ll meet you in front of the record shop at 10, then?” 

“Sure!” Hongjoong agreed, his cheeks bright, painted with a rosy blush. 

“I’ll see you then!” Throwing away his common sense for a moment, Seonghwa leaned over the counter to peck Hongjoong’s cheek before dashing out the record store with a wave. He grinned to himself as he ran up the stairs onto the streets. He surveyed his surroundings for a second to see if there was anyone around. When he didn’t see anyone, he started laughing to himself. 

“Yes! I did it!” He pumped his fist in the air. He probably looked crazy, laughing, all alone on the streets, but he didn’t care. 

Faintly, the sound of “Ever Enough” drifted in his earbuds. He hummed along to the tune, a huge grin on his face, all the way home. 

✧✧✧

“Seonghwa! I need you to give me HP! I’m dying in this game!” 

“Seonghwa? Seonghwa? Can you hear me? Are you even listening to me?” 

“Oh my God. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid we have lost Park Seonghwa, due to the fact that he’s spacing out thinking about his boyfriend. May he rest in peace.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i'd greatly appreciate any comments or constructive critiques :]


End file.
